A Difficult Bet
by FeanorusRex
Summary: Sif makes a bet to steal one of Loki's knives, and resorts to unusual measures to do so.


**AN: In a deleted scene of Thor, we see Sif giving all weapons to a guard before the coronation. One she seems particularly proud of is a dagger that is identified as one of Loki's three. O_O suspicious!**

Sif would never have admitted it, but she was beginning to worry about her end of the bet. It was a stupid bet; she should have never have taken it, but she had and now there was no backing out for either party, a condition she herself had stipulated. A month. She had been given a month to steal one of Loki's prized daggers, and was no closer to having done so than she had been at the beginning of the month.

It had been a stupid dare, but she, Thor, and the Warriors Three had been bored one day when they were supposed to be training. They had been, earlier in the day, but it was too hot, and everyone's fighting rhythm had been off. Someone, Fandral probably, had commented that Sif's fighting style was inelegant, and that she possessed no subtly whatsoever.

She had two immediate responses that: of course she possessed subtlety, and would he like her to prove it? From there a bet was suggested, to make any test of the more interesting. Loki had not been with them so he had consequently become the mark of the assigned task. Sif was given one month to steal any one of his three prized daggers. She must do it unobtrusively, so that he did not realize at the time that the weapon has been taken. This unfortunately took simple violence and bluntly demanding that he hand over a dagger off of the table. It was a test of subtlety, after all.

At the time she had been confident and of course she had taken it, for realistically what else could she do, after so ardently defending herself? She could not back down or she would look like a coward. And she had thought herself up to the challenge. Now though, as the calendar resolutely counted down the days until her allotted time limit ran out, she was suddenly not so sure anymore. There were only five days left until the bitter termination of the month and then, what could she do if she had to face her friends and admit that she had failed?

No, she counseled herself trying to think rationally, she would not have to humble herself in that manner. The problem was that there was simply no opportunity for her to lift one of these knives, for they seemed to either be on the person of Loki as he carried them to and from the training ground, or in his private rooms which he did not allow anyone else uninvited access to.

While Sif often visited him in these, she could think of no way to distract him so that she might be able to find, secure, and leave the chamber with a knife all while escaping his notice. And ordinary breaking and entering was out of the question for who knew what charms or snares he had laid upon them to detect entry?

There was the last ditch option that Sif simply tell Loki about and persuade him to loan one of these weapons to her for a short time so she could display it to Thor and the Warriors Three, claimed that she had taken it without his notice and does save face with them. However she did not wish to beg Loki in that manner, nor did she think he would agree, nor would Sif derive any satisfaction from such underhanded tactics in order to prove that, yes, she in fact was subtle in her fighting style and any other area that she chose to be.

But Loki was proving to be a more than worthy, if unknowing, opponent and she knew that he would be very pleased to know that she was driving herself to distraction attempting to think of someway to pinch one of his daggers.

They were far too intricate to simply have on replicated by a blacksmith and then present to her friends, and of course Loki could easily disprove this by producing the original dagger. And this as well was cheating which Sif could not abide by.

At least there would be no sort of penalty for losing, she thought, gritting her teeth. No official penalty anyway course she would have to endure all their teasings, Thor and Fandral and Loki when he found out that he had been be the attempted mark for such a heist. And though Hogan would not openly mock her, he too would be witness to her gigantic failure.

And what a stupid test of subtlety this was! Even if Sif was not a graceful fighter, there was still the possibility that she could be a sly thief and vice versa. She knew that this was true, although it would hold no water when she presented it to her friends a mere three days from now, as an attempt to explain why she was before them dagger-less.

What could she do? Sif thought racking her brains as the treacherous hours slipped past her, and two more nights passed. It was now the evening of the last day of the allotted month, and while she was even now conversing with Loki in his room, she could not think of a single way to provide a distraction that would both hold his attention and take it away from her long enough for her to seize a dagger and remove herself.

In the universe's cruel manner of mocking her, one of his daggers even lay on an adjacent table. And it was Sif's favorite of the three, the one with two sharp spikes protruding from from one end and a curved blade of the other side. It could be used either for close-range stabbing to leave two deadly wounds, or be thrown, its curved shape allowing it speedy passage through the air and into the body of one's enemies.

And like a bolt of lightning that Thor was always bragging he would be able to summon once he became king, it hit her. She could kiss brilliance of this plan crashed over Sif like a wave. In the past few months, she had begun to think that Loki fancied her. He had been nicer to her, a marked decrease in mocking and pranks. He had seemed to be nervous around her at time, shuffling his feet, and actually blushing which was noticeable with his pale skin. He seemed to always be finding excuses to speak with her- even tonight, he has invited her into his room to show her some new magic theory which she did not care about at all, but he seemed to enthusiastic about it, and now she had been with Loki for almost an hour, as he had continued to make conversation.

At first Sif had thought that these actions were simply meant to manipulate or trick her, but if they were, it was quite a long game that Loki was playing. He seemed quite sincere. And now it was how she could win! Kiss, steal, and leave. Loki was standing directly in front of the table while the dagger sat on the edge. While she kissed him, she could reach out, snatch it, and stick the knife into the top of her boot - it would not be hard to conceal as her boots were rather loose, and this knife was made to be hidden easily.

Loki had been speaking, but after conceiving her plan, Sif had heard nothing. He had paused now, and she was at a loss for how to turn the conversation from his topic to kissing.

"Loki,' she began, brushing her hair away from her face. "I have been thinking that we- you and I," ugh, how did people actually flirt with each other? "I mean, we are friends but-" enough floundering. This was humiliating. She stepped forwards and kissed him, thinking that she must act fast if she had misjudged his feelings for her, because this would give her very little time to get the knife.

Their mouths collided, and through he seemed initially surprised, Loki quickly overcame this and kissed her back. Sif did not think he had kissed anyone else before, but if he was inexperienced, she did not notice it. In fact, his skill momentarily distracted from her mission, but then remembered to open her eyes. She looked past his head, and found that she needed to move closer to the table to reach the dagger. In order to do this, she pressed herself closer to Loki, then reached out gingerly and slipped the dagger in to her boot. What stealth! Take that Fandral!

Sif's heart was beating quite rapidly, both from adrenaline of almost completing her mission, and because, well, being kissed by Loki was not exactly bad. In fact now that she relaxed and let herself enjoy it, it was nice enough that perhaps she would have sought it out independently of stealing an object.

This thought disturbed her a little- she did not fancy Loki, that was gross, but at least this was good practice for when she wanted to kiss someone she actually cared about. It occured to Sif that she should put an end to this, which was disappointing, and caused her to wonder at her own mind.

At any rate, she needed to breathe, and so Sif pulled away gently,so as not arouse his suspicion. She found that acting lovestruck was not at all hard. Now it was her turn to blush violently as Loki met and held her gaze. She saw in them, not mischief or mocking, but open, unguarded affection. She found herself smiling rather foolishly at him, and bit the side of her mouth to make herself stop. He did not say anything and neither did she.

It scared her, that Loki would look on her like such. True, she had thought that he had a crush on her, but not to such an extent. "I should go," said Sif, feeling awkward. She had not planned out this part. "My parents will be wondering where I am."

Having returned home, and stashed the dagger under her bed, Sif laid awake

trying to imagine her friends' surprise on the morrow as she displayed the stolen weapon, but found that her mind would rather consider how Loki's hands had caressed her hair while they kissed and even after she had pulled away, how he had traced her chin with his fingertips. Odd. She told herself that all these bizarre feelings would be over in the morning when the bet ended.

The bet did indeed end, and Sif stood, victorious in front of her friends, brandishing Loki's dagger. She was declared the winner, and yet, she did not feel as happy as she thought that she would.

"And how did you possibly do it?" Asked Thor.

"I broke into his chambers and stole it while he was out," Sif replied vaguely, seeing no need to mention the kiss, not wanting to embarrass Loki or herself.

She hesitantly glanced at Loki, feeling nervous. Surely he would realize that this had all been for a joke? But she only caught a glimpse of his face, coldly furious, before he disappeared, having magiced himself away. She felt the force of what she had done hit her. Loki had feelings for her, deep ones, and she had used them. He had been so thrilled when she had kissed him, and now that he had found out that it has all been a pretense…

Sif felt guilty, horribly so, and left her friends as soon as possible. She only felt more so as the days passed. Loki continued to avoid her completely and so thoroughly that she did not see him whatsoever. Though she knew that she was completely in the wrong, and must apologize, she let one week pass, hoping that he would forget her offence, knowing that he would not.

And so now Sif went resolutely to Loki's door, holding the stolen knife- sheathed so she would not think that she was trying to attack him- and knocked, not calling out so that Loki would not know who it was. The door opened and began to shut again as soon as he saw her. "Loki, please," she begged, feeling desperate. "I want to apologize, do not make me do this in the hallway." He stepped back, letting her in, but if only to scorn her while shielded from any curious passers by, Sif could not tell.

"You must be very proud," Loki said flatly, coldly. "You won, and you made me look like a fool in the process. Congratulations."

"But you do the same thing to other all the time!" Sif responded, flaring under his scorn, forgetting briefly that she had come to apologize.

"Not like that," he snapped back. "If I had even the faintest thought that you cared for me too, I would have never used your feelings for deceit. Like you did." he added.

"Loki, I believe you, and I came to say that- I am sorry. It was wrong and I used you, and I regret it." The following silence was horrible and Sif needing to fill it with something more said, "And just so you know when we kissed, I… did not hate it. Actually I enjoyed it immensely, and I have been thinking about it, and I would like to be together, if you wanted to."

In the past week, Sif had been thinking a great deal about Loki and she had realized that far from disgust or disinterest in his attentions, over the last months, she had felt flattered and returned his feelings, thought she had not admitted it even to herself. "Here is your knife back. I cleaned it for you," she held it out, praying that he would take it, and with it, her apology.

Loki finally spoke: "You did not have to. The magic laid on it keeps dirt and rust away."

"Well excuse me for trying to do something nice for you- and what about everything else that I just said, did you even hear me?" Sif might like him now, but he was still capable of being incredibly infuriating.

"You did not let me finish," he was smiling slightly which was a good sign, and Sif felt herself relax a bit. "I was going to say apology accepted."

"I missed you this week," Sif replied, relieved and happy, unable to stop herself from grinning. What about the part about her feelings for him? A part of her mind wondered. Had she completely messed up her chances for a relationship with him?

"I did too," said Loki, and then it was Sif's turn to be surprised as he moved toward her swiftly and kissed her. It seemed that she had not blown things after all, and she responded eagerly, thinking that this kiss was even better than the first.

"Sif," he said, as they briefly broke apart.

"Yes?"

"Keep the knife." It was not a usual gift between sweethearts but…

"I love it." Sif kissed him again.


End file.
